Craig Yoe is the venerable author, designer and comics archeologist behind such works as Dan DeCarlo's Jetta, Secret Identity: The Fetish Art of Superman's Co-creator Joe Shuster, and Bob Powell's Terror: The Chilling Archives of Horror Comics. Many of Yoe's works are released by IDW Publishing under the Yoe Books imprint, and their newest venture will be of great interest not just to fans of old timey spooky comics but also of comics history itself. Called Haunted Horror, the project collects and represents the kinds of comics that were at once immensely popular yet deemed so subversive and dangerous that they led to testimony in the United States congress! The comics industry's self-imposed Comics Code Authority would restrict the publication of the kind of material collected in Haunted Horror, including work created by greats like Bernard Baily, Joe Simon, Jack Kirby, Jack Cole, Jay Disbrow, C. A. Winter and more.

Because we live in the 21st century with Craig Yoe, we can now read these all but forbidden comics without the fear of the notorious Dr. Fredric Wertham bursting through our bedroom doors and ratting us out to our moms. In honor of today's Halloween celebration, Yoe and IDW have offered ComicsAlliance readers a taste of these great old comics with two complete short stories: "Slaughterhouse," a story of human enslavement by aliens by none other than Captain America creators Jack Kirby and Joe Simon; and "The Wage-Earners," a supernatural swampland tale by C.A. Winter. Click on to read these stories in their entirety, as well as a special Halloween message from IDW's head honcho Chris Ryall.

"Other titles might do a Halloween-themed issue, but Haunted Horror, creepily assembled by the great comics archivist Craig Yoe (or "Forelock the Warlock" as he appears inside this issue), lives and breathes Halloween," said Ryall, IDW Chief Creative Officer and Editor-in-Chief. "This extra-thick assembly of pre-code horror comics not only delivered some of the most fun and outrageously dark stories I've read in a long time, but it did so in style--among the other contributors in this first issue are Jack Kirby & Joe Simon and Jack Cole. In these post-Code days, you tend to forget just what comics were getting away with before the Code was ever brought in, and now you get this bloody good bi-monthly reminder of how fun comics can be. Darken the room a bit, shut out those costumed beggars on your porch, and enjoy this special Halloween treat on us."

Slaughterhouse by Jack Kirby and Joe Simon

(click images to enlarge)

The Wage-Earners by C.A. Winter

These stories are but a taste of what awaits in the 48-page Haunted Horror #1, on sale now in finer comics shops and digitally from comiXology.